T . E . A . M

The Officers

   I went down to the living room and sat down on Tate's couch. He walked out of the kitchen and sat down at the other side of the couch.

   He smiled at me and picked up the TV remote.

   "What do you feel like watching?" Tate asked me scrolling through Netflix.

   I had to think for a second. I hadn't watched TV in so ... long.

   "Uh ... I don't know." I said with a laugh.

   He thought for a second, then asked, "Have you even seen Stranger Things?"

   "No but I've heard of it."

   "Ok, wanna watch it?"

   "Totally!"

   "Ok!"

   Tate turned on Stranger Things. Just from the intro, I was intrigued.

   Right before the whole plot of the episode was set, there were three loud knocks on the door.

   I looked at Tate confused. I mouthed, "Who is that?"

   He mouthed back to me, "I don't know."

   There were the three pounds on the door again, "OPEN UP," Someone yelled from outside.

   Tate got up and answered the door.

   "Oh, my apologies officer," Tate started to say.

   I turned around with my eyes wide. Officer? I didn't only see one, I saw two. They were obviously here for me.

   "Is there a Rae Carnaby in this household?" One of the officers asked Tate.

   I got up from the couch, and stepped in front of Tate, "Yeah, I'm Rae."

   The officers looked me up and down and said, "Yep, you fit the description."

   "We're going to have to ask you to get into the car, we're gonna take you back home." The other officer told me.

I didn't know what to do. Should I go with the officers, or should I try to stay?

One of the officers grabbed my arm and started walking me out to the police car.

"WAIT," I heard Tate scream from the house.

I tried turning around to look at him, but I couldn't. I forced myself to stop.

"You heard him, wait!" I told the police men.

I clawed myself out of their arms, and ran back to the front door.

"She can just stay here." Tate explained to the police.

"That won't be necessary, she's coming with us. We need to ensure her safety." One of the police men told Tate.

"No, I can stay here." I said.

I didn't want to leave until I knew everyone else was safe. I wanted to be as close to my friends as I could, and I knew that I was closer to them here than I would be back in New York.

The police officers thought about their decision for a moment.

"No." One of them said with a straight face.

"I won't let her leave the house ...?" Tate said.

"I guess ... if you don't let her leave the house, she would be safe ..." The police reasoned.

"Uh, yeah! I won't leave!" I exclaimed trying to persuade them to let me stay.

The police men stepped aside and started talking to each other. They then took out their walkie talkie things and started talking to other people.